Z. angew. Math. Phys.

60 (2009) 899–920
0044-2275/09/050899-22
DOI 10.1007/s00033-009-8056-z Zeitschrift für angewandte
°c 2009 Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel Mathematik und Physik ZAMP

Axial dispersion in pressure perturbed flow through an

annular pipe oscillating around its axis

Suvadip Paul

Abstract. A method of moment is employed to study the axial dispersion of passive tracer
molecules released in an unsteady pressure-driven flow through an annular pipe which is oscil-
lating around its longitudinal axis. The flow unsteadiness is caused by the oscillation of the tube
around its axis as well as by a periodic pressure gradient. A finite difference implicit scheme
is adopted to solve the Aris integral moment equations arising from the unsteady convective-
diffusion equation for all time periods. The main objective is to study the nature of the dispersion
coefficient and mean concentration distribution under the sole as well as combined oscillation of
the two driving forces. The behaviour of the dispersion coefficient due to the variation of the
aspect ratio, the absorption parameter for purely periodic flow has been examined and the sound
response from dispersion coefficient is found with the variation of these parameters in the sole
presence of pressure pulsation. There is a remarkable difference in the behavior of the disper-
sion coefficient depending on whether the ratio of two frequencies arising from the oscillations
of the tube and the pressure gradient possesses a proper fraction or not. Oscillation of the tube
produces much more dispersion than the pulsation of the pressure gradient and their combined
effect leads to a further increase in dispersion. Tube oscillation shows a stronger effect on the
dispersion coefficient than the pressure pulsation though the effect of physical parameters are
pronounced in the presence of pressure pulsation.
The effect of the frequency parameter on the axial distribution of mean concentration is
insensible when the oscillation of the annular tube is the only forcing. However this effect is
much noticeable under the combined action of both forcing and much more effective under the
sole influence of pressure pulsation.

Keywords. Axial dispersion, finite difference, absorption, aspect ratio, concentration distribu-
tion, pressure gradient.

1. Introduction

Dispersion is the mechanism controlling the rate of broadening of a cloud of matter

in a flowing stream. Axial dispersion of a tracer in an annular tube as applied
to chemical, environmental and bio-medical processes has received considerable
attention. The study of dispersion was initiated by Taylor [1] who anticipated
that in shear flow additional longitudinal diffusion of matters could result from
the combined action of lateral diffusion and velocity shear. Since then, a succes-
900 S. Paul ZAMP

sion of papers have appeared generalizing and presenting alternative approaches to

Taylor’s result. Aris [2] generalized Taylor’s conceptual model by removing restric-
tions made by Taylor to include longitudinal diffusion and developed an approach
‘method of moments’ to analyze the asymptotic behaviour of the second moment
about the mean. Barton [3] presented an approach to resolve certain technical
difficulties in Aris method and obtained the solutions of second and third-order
moment equations of the distribution of solute which are valid for all time.
Dispersion is known to depend on flow unsteadiness. For laminar flows, the case
of an oscillatory axial flow in a uniform tube was first treated by Aris [4] by the
moment method. Watson [5] analyzed the mass transfer of a diffusing substance
in a pipe in oscillatory flow. Tsangaris and Athanassiadis [6] extended the study
of Watson for the oscillatory tube flow to an annular pipe.
Mazumder and Das [7] explained the effect of wall absorption on dispersion in
an oscillatory flow through a pipe. Tracer dispersion in an annular pipe with reac-
tive boundary was studied by Mondal and Mazumder [8]. Sarkar and Jayaraman
[9] and Mazumder and Mondal [10] investigated the solute transport in oscillatory
flow in an annulus and explained the application of their study to a catheterized
artery.
In channel flow a number of attempts have been made to investigate disper-
sion phenomena under the pulsation of walls including Waters [11], Hydon and
Pedley [12], Secomb [13] etc. Dispersion phenomena in a channel with unsteady
boundary motion have been studied by Ng [14], Bandyopadhyay and Mazumder
[15], Mazumder and Paul [16]. There exist a large number of studies on dispersion
under the sole influence of either pressure pulsation or boundary oscillation. There
are, however, much fewer studies that take into account both of the driving forces.
The present paper concerns the behaviour of the dispersion coefficient in an
unsteady pressure-driven flow through an annular tube which is oscillating around
its longitudinal axis. This setup has many industrial applications, for example,
in the transport of oil, gas, water and foodstuffs through pipes. The dispersion
time scale is assumed to be comparable with the time scale for diffusion across the
annulus, therefore the focus is more on an early stage of dispersion arising from
the oscillatory flow. The intension is to find out the aggregate effects due to the
presence of both driving forces as compared with the isolated effects due to either
of the oscillations alone. Results are obtained to explain the influence of reaction
parameter, aspect ratio and frequencies of oscillations on the spreading of tracers.
The patterns of the mean concentration distributions in presence of both driving
forces are also discussed.
Vol. 60 (2009) Axial dispersion in pressure perturbed flow through an annular pipe 901

2. Flow equations

Consider an unsteady fully developed, axi-symmetric laminar flow of an homoge-

neous, incompressible viscous fluid through an annular pipe having inner radius
b and outer radius a. We have used a cylindrical coordinate system in which the
radial and axial co-ordinates are ρ∗ and ζ ∗ respectively, where asterisks represents
dimensional quantities. The pipe is so long in the axial direction and the annular
section is so wide that in the fully developed region, the flow is directed along the
axial direction and velocity varies only in the cross-stream direction. So the flow
is strictly one-dimensional and the momentum equation is,
µ ¶
∂u∗ 1 ∂p∗ 1 ∂ ∗ ∂u
∗
=− +ν ∗ ∗ ρ (1)
∂t∗ % ∂ζ ∗ ρ ∂ρ ∂ρ∗
1 ∂p∗
where u∗ (ρ∗ , t∗ ) is the axial velocity, − is the axial pressure gradient. %,
% ∂ζ ∗
ν and p∗ are the density, the kinematic viscosity and the pressure of the fluid
respectively.
The flow is driven by the combined effect of the axial periodic pressure gradient
and the oscillation of the entire tube around its axis, both comprise a steady and a
periodically fluctuating component. The axial periodic pressure gradient is given
by
1 ∂p∗ ∗
− ∗
= P ∗ [1 + ²1 Re(eiω1 t )] (2)
% ∂ζ
and the oscillation of the tube around the longitudinal axis is prescribed by
∗
U [1 + ²2 Re(eiω2 t )] (3)
where ²1 P ∗ , ω1 denotes respectively the amplitude and frequency of pressure pul-
sation and ²2 U , ω2 are those for tube oscillation. Subscripts 1 and 2 correspond
to pulsation of the pressure gradient and oscillation of the tube respectively.
Here the annular tube is considered as a whole. So when we speak of the
oscillation of the tube, it means the oscillation of both the cylinders (inner and
outer) that forms the annular tube.

3. Convection-diffusion equation

Suppose a finite cloud of passive solute is discharged into the flow at an arbitrary
instant in presence of first order reaction at the outer wall. Then the concentration
C(t, ρ, ζ) of the solute as a function of axial distance ζ, radial distance ρ and time
t satisfies the non-dimensional convective-diffusion equation,
µ ¶
∂C ∂C 1 ∂ ∂C ∂2C
+ Pe u(ρ, t) = ρ + (4)
∂t ∂ζ ρ ∂ρ ∂ρ ∂ζ 2
902 S. Paul ZAMP

with dimensionless quantities

ρ∗ ζ∗ Dt∗ u∗ Ua
ρ= , ζ= , t= 2 , u= , Pe = .
a a a U D
Here u(ρ, t) is composed of steady velocity u0 (ρ), periodic velocity u1 (ρ, t)
due to the fluctuating pressure gradient and another unsteady component u2 (ρ, t)
arising due to the oscillatory motion of the annular tube. D is the molecular
diffusivity of the solute. The Péclet number,µintroduced
¶ here measures the relative
a2 ³a´
characteristic time of the diffusion process to the convection process .
D U
It is also assumed that the injected material is so dilute in concentration that its
presence does not materially affect the flow of the carrying fluid.
The initial and boundary conditions are

C(0, ρ, ζ) = B(ρ)δ(ζ), (λ ≤ ρ ≤ 1) 



∂C 

+ βC = 0 at ρ = 1, at the outer wall of the annular pipe,  

∂ρ 



∂C 
= 0 at ρ = λ, at the inner wall of the annular pipe, (5)
∂ρ 



C finite at all points, 



Z 1 Z 2π Z ∞ 

1 1 

ρC(0, ρ, ζ)dρdθdζ = 1, 

1−λ π λ 0 −∞
∗
where δ is the Dirac delta function
¡ and
¢ β = (β a), the first order reaction rate
b
or absorption parameter and λ = a is the aspect ratio (the ratio of the inner
radius b to the outer radius a of the annular pipe). The first condition depicts
the initial condition at t = 0. Condition second describes the first-order reaction
occurring at the wall of the outer tube and the third condition states there is no
net transport of mass across the inner wall of the annular tube. The last condition
of equation (5) represents the total amount of material at the annular pipe is taken
to be unity at t = 0.

4. Velocity distribution

In order to solve the equation (1) with the equation (2), we assume a solution of
the form as

u(ρ, t) = u0 (ρ) + u1 (ρ, t) + u2 (ρ, t)

(6)
= u0 (ρ) + ²1 Re[u1 (ρ)eiα1 St ] + ²2 Re[u2 (ρ)eiα2 St ]
ω1 a2 ω2 a2 ν
where α1 = , α2 = ,S = are the dimensionless parameters. Since
ν ν D
the fluid is sandwiched between the annular gap of the tube, (3) will give the fluid
Vol. 60 (2009) Axial dispersion in pressure perturbed flow through an annular pipe 903

velocities at the boundaries of the annular tube. Substitution of (6) in equation

(1), subject to the boundary conditions, provides the steady and unsteady velocity
components as:
F F lnρ
u0 (ρ) = (1 − ρ2 ) + 1 − (1 − λ2 ) , 0<λ<1 (7)
4 4 lnλ
iF √ √
u1 (ρ) = [C11 I0 (ρ α1 i1/2 ) + C12 K0 (ρ α1 i1/2 ) − 1] (8)
α1
√ √
u2 (ρ) = C21 I0 (ρ α2 i1/2 ) + C22 K0 (ρ α2 i1/2 ) (9)
where
√ √
K0 (λ α1 i1/2 ) − K0 ( α1 i1/2 )
C11 = √ √ √ √
I0 ( α1 i1/2 )K0 (λ α1 i1/2 ) − I0 (λ α1 i1/2 )K0 ( α1 i1/2 )
√ √
I0 ( α1 i1/2 ) − I0 (λ α1 i1/2 )
C12 = √ 1/2 √ 1/2 √ √
I0 ( α1 i )K0 (λ α1 i ) − I0 (λ α1 i1/2 )K0 ( α1 i1/2 )
√ √
K0 (λ α2 i1/2 ) − K0 ( α2 i1/2 )
C21 = √ √ √ √
I0 ( α2 i1/2 )K0 (λ α2 i1/2 ) − I0 (λ α2 i1/2 )K0 ( α2 i1/2 )
and √ √
I0 ( α2 i1/2 ) − I0 (λ α2 i1/2 )
C22 = √ √ √ √ .
I0 ( α2 i1/2 )K0 (λ α2 i1/2 ) − I0 (λ α2 i1/2 )K0 ( α2 i1/2 )
Here I0 , K0 are the modified Bessel functions of first and second kind respec-
tively with imaginary arguments and can be expressed as I0 (xi1/2 ) = ber(x) +
ibei(x) and K0 (xi1/2 ) = ker(x) + ikei(x), where ber, bei, ker, kei are Kelvin func-
tions of order zero.
α1 and α2 are the dimensionless frequency parameters corresponding to pulsa-
tion of the pressure gradient and the oscillation of tube respectively.
p Theyp are in-
versely proportional to the Stoke’s boundary layer thicknesses ν/ω1 and ν/ω2
respectively. Therefore more higher the frequencies, less thinner the Stokes’ layer.
Another way of looking at α1 and α2 is that, for periodic flow, these are the mea-
2
sure of the ratio of the time ( aν ) required for viscosity to smooth out the transverse
variation in vorticity to the period of oscillations ( ω11 , ω12 ). The Schmidt number
2
S is the ratio of viscous diffusion to the molecular diffusion and F (= PνU a
) is the
dimensionless mean pressure gradient in the axial direction.
The equations (8) ([6], [10]) and (9) represent the velocity profiles due to the
periodic pressure gradient and the oscillation of the annular tube respectively.
The variation of the velocity profile (6) depends on the dimensionless pressure
gradient F , Schmidt number S, aspect ratio λ, frequency parameters α1 , α2 and
amplitudes of oscillations ²1 , ²2 . The shape of the velocity profile is determined
by the phase angles of two oscillations. With the change of phase angle of the
904 S. Paul ZAMP

Figure 1. Profiles of the unsteady component of velocity for different phase angle of pressure
pulsation when the phase angle Ω of the tube oscillation is π/2 ; ²1 = ²2 = 1.

tube oscillation, the tube will change its position along its axis. Fig. 1 shows the
velocity profiles for different phase angles of pressure pulsation when the annular
tube oscillates with the phase angle Ω = α2 St = π/2. The dotted lines represent
the case when there is no oscillation in the pressure gradient. From the figure it is
clear that how the term α1 St that characterizes the pressure pulsation, influences
the velocity distribution. The phase angle Ω of the tube oscillation is also found
to be influential. It has seen that the velocity increases as the phase angle Ω of
tube oscillation increases. At a particular phase angle (of tube oscillation), the
velocity decreases with the increase of the phase angle of the pressure pulsation.
Under the sole influence of the oscillation of the pressure gradient, as the fre-
quency parameter α1 increases, the velocity over the annular gap of the tube
decreases. It happens that at a given radial position velocity decreases with the
increase of aspect ratio (figure is not provided).

5. Moment equations

Following the method of integral moment proposed by Aris [2], we define the p-th
moment of the distribution of the solute in the filament through ρ at time t as,

Z +∞
Cp (t, ρ) = ζ p C(t, ρ, ζ)dζ (10)
−∞
Vol. 60 (2009) Axial dispersion in pressure perturbed flow through an annular pipe 905

Figure 2. Variation of the dispersion coefficient for steady flow with variation of F , λ and β.

and the concentration distribution of the solute over the cross-section of the an-
nulus is given by, R 2π R 1
dθ ρCp (t, ρ)dρ
C̄p = 0 R 2π λ R 1 . (11)
0
dθ λ ρdρ
So using equations (10), the diffusion equation (4) subject to initial and bound-
ary conditions can be written as
µ ¶
∂Cp 1 ∂ ∂Cp
− ρ = pu(ρ, t)Pe Cp−1 + p(p − 1)Cp−2 (12)
∂t ρ ∂ρ ∂ρ
with
½ 
B(ρ) for p = 0 

Cp (0, ρ) = 

0 for p > 0 



∂Cp
+ βCp = 0 at ρ = 1, (13)
∂ρ 



∂Cp 

= 0 at ρ = λ 

∂ρ
where B(ρ) = 1 for (λ ≤ ρ ≤ 1).
906 S. Paul ZAMP

Averaging over the annular cross-section, equations (12) and (13) become,
dC̄p 2β
= pPe u(ρ, t)C p−1 + p(p − 1)C p−2 − Cp (t, 1) (14)
dt 1 − λ2
and
C̄p (0) = 1 for p = 0, C̄p (0) = 0 for p>0 (15)
where over-bar denotes the cross-sectional mean.
The p-th order central moment of the concentration distribution about the
mean can be defined as

1
R 1 R 2π R +∞
π λ 0 −∞
ρ(ζ − ζg )p Cdρdθdζ
µp (t) = RRR (16)
Cdv
C̄1
where ζg = is the centroid or first moment of the solute and C̄0 represents the
C̄0
total mass of the reactive solute in the whole volume of the annular pipe.
Each of the integral moments of concentration defined by (16) has an impor-
tant contribution for predicting dispersion phenomena. They serve as simple and
physically meaningful descriptors of the overall behaviour of the slug. The first
moment ζg measures the location of the center of gravity of the slug movement
with the mean velocity of the fluid, initially located at the source. The second
central moment µ2 represents the variance related to the dispersion of the contam-
inant about the mean position. The skewness factor (ν2 ) and the flatness factor
(ν3 ), obtained from the third and the fourth-order moments, are also important
factors during the initial stage of matter dispersion.

6. Numerical solution

As the analytical solution of moment equations (12) and (14) subject to the initial
and boundary conditions (13), (15) is somewhat complicated, a finite difference
method based on the Crank–Nicholson implicit scheme has been adopted to study
the dispersion phenomenon. The equations are discretized in the radial direction
ρ and time t. For this purpose, we divide the whole width of the annulus into
(M − 1) equal parts each of length ∆ρ which are represented by the grid point j,
so that j = 1, M corresponds to the inner wall ρ = λ and outer wall ρ = 1 of the
annulus respectively i.e., ρj = λ + (j − 1) × ∆ρ. The grid point i identifies time
t according to the relationship ti = ∆t × (i − 1) so that i = 1 corresponds to the
time t = 0. The Crank-Nicholson method is applied for each time step. ∆t and
∆ρ are the increments of t and ρ, respectively. Cp (i, j) indicates the value of Cp at
the i-th grid point along the t-axis and j-th grid point along ρ-axis. The resulting
finite difference equations become a system of linear algebraic equations with a
tri-diagonal coefficient matrix and can be represented in the form,
Vol. 60 (2009) Axial dispersion in pressure perturbed flow through an annular pipe 907

Pj Cp (i + 1, j + 1) + Qj Cp (i + 1, j) + Rj Cp (i + 1, j − 1) = Sj (17)

where Pj , Qj , Rj and Sj are the matrix elements.

The finite difference form of the initial condition is,

Cp (1, j) = 1 for p=0

= 0 for p≥0

and that of boundary conditions are

Cp (i + 1, 0) = Cp (i + 1, 2), at the inner wall of the annulus, and

Cp (i + 1, M + 1) = Cp (i + 1, M − 1) − 2β∆ρCp (i + 1, M ),
at the outer wall of the annular pipe.

A matlab code has been developed to solve this tri-diagonal coefficient matrix
by the method of Thomas algorithm [Anderson et al. [17]] with the help of pre-
scribed initial and boundary conditions. The steps of computations are: (i) first
the time dependent axial velocity u is computed from (6); (ii) the concentration Cp
is calculated from (12) on knowing the values of u(ρ, t) at the grid point (i + 1, j)
and (iii) finally the spatial moments C̄p are calculated from (14) by applying Simp-
son’s one-third rule, with the known values of u(ρ, t) and Cp at the corresponding
grid points. The values of the variables can be calculated for all time iteratively
in the marching direction. Although the present scheme is linearly stable for any
∆t 1−λ
finite values of 2
, a mesh size (∆t = 0.0001, ∆ρ = ) gives satisfactory
(∆ρ) M −1
results for steady currents. For the oscillatory and combined flow, a mesh size
1−λ
(∆t = 0.00001, ∆ρ = ) where λ varies from 0.02 to 0.2, gives acceptable
M −1
results for the frequencies α1 or α2 = 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0. Actually, the smaller time
interval is needed to trap the oscillatory nature in the dispersion process.

7. Distributions of mean concentration

Knowledge of the various moments of the material concentration suggests the be-
haviour of the concentration distribution. Using the first four central moments, it
is possible to compute the mean axial concentration distribution Cm (ζ, t) of trac-
ers within the annular region with the help of Hermite polynomial representation
for non-Gaussian curves (Chatwin [18]) and is given by,

∞
X
2
Cm (ζ, t) = C̄0 (t)e−z an (t)Hn (z) (18)
n=0
908 S. Paul ZAMP

ζ − ζg C̄1
where z = 1/2
, ζg =and Hi , the Hermite polynomials, satisfy the
(2µ2 ) C̄0
recurrence relation with H0 (z) = 1.0 as
Hi+1 (z) = 2zHi (z) − 2iHi−1 (z), i = 0, 1, 2, . . .
The coefficients ai are
1/2
a0 = 1/ (2πµ2 ) , a1 = a2 = 0, a3 = 21/2 a0 ν2 /24, a4 = a0 ν3 /96.
Therefore, given the statistical parameters (16), the concentration distribution
can be estimated from (18) at any given location in the axial direction and time.

8. Results and discussion

When the flow is purely oscillatory, the substitution of ²2 = 0 will make the fluid to
flow through a stationary annular tube driven by a periodic pressure gradient. The
behaviour of the dispersion coefficient in this type of flow situation is in complete
agreement with Mazumder and Mondal [10].
Also to defend the results obtained, the same problem has also been solved using
the derivative expansion method developed by Gill and Sankarasubramanian [19].
Following the approach of Sarkar and Jayaraman [20] the absorption coefficient
M0 (t), convective coefficient M1 (t) and dispersion coefficient M2 (t) is determined
(space details are omitted). The dispersion coefficient M2 (t) obtained in this
way and the dispersion coefficient Da obtained using Aris method show similar
qualitative behaviour.
The second spatial moment corresponds to the variance of the concentration
distribution, the rate of change of which gives the dispersion coefficient. The rate
of growth of variance which indicates the degree of the dispersion effect at any
time is given by

1 dµ2
Da = (19)
2Pe2 dt
where Da is the apparent dispersion coefficient depending on the frequencies of
oscillations αi , amplitudes of oscillations ²i (i = 1, 2), Schmidt number S, absorp-
tion parameter β, aspect ratio λ, applied pressure gradient F and the dispersion
time t.
When the flow is steady (u = u0 (ρ)), the apparent dispersion coefficient Da
initially increases with time and asymptotically reaches a stationary state. It is
seen from Fig. 2 that Da decreases with the increase in absorption parameter β.
For a given instant of time t, Da decreases with F , but increases as λ decreases.
Variation of the dispersion coefficient against time under the sole influence of
only one forcing is presented in Fig. 3. For Fig. 3(a, b, c, d), the pressure gradient
is the only driving force (i.e., ²1 6= 0, ²2 = 0) while for Fig. 4(a, b, c, d) it is the
Vol. 60 (2009) Axial dispersion in pressure perturbed flow through an annular pipe 909

Figure 3. The dispersion coefficient Da for different frequency α1 of pressure pulsation in the
absence of tube oscillation (²2 =0) when F = 1, ²1 = 1, Pe =S=103 .

oscillation of the annular tube around its axis (i.e., ²1 = 0, ²2 6= 0). At a given
frequency, the dispersion coefficient shows more variability under the oscillation
of the annular tube compared with the oscillation of the pressure gradient. It is
interesting to note that the oscillation of the annular tube produces more dispersion
than that due to the periodic pressure gradient and in both cases increase of
frequency leads to a reduction of the dispersion coefficient. This is because the
increase of the frequency parameter decreases the flow within the annular region
and the aggregation of tracer molecules comes to appear in a smaller portion in
the axial direction. Fig. 3(d) or 4(d) correspond to the case when the pressure
gradient or the annular tube oscillates with sufficiently high frequency (O(10)), a
case which gives rise to thinner Stoke’s layers. From Fig. 3 it is clear that, for low
frequency of pressure pulsation the dispersion coefficient Da changes cyclically with
a double-frequency period during initial stage. The amplitudes of oscillation of Da
during the first and second half of the period of oscillatory flow are approximately
910 S. Paul ZAMP

Figure 4. The dispersion coefficient Da for different frequency α2 of tube oscillation in the
absence of pressure pulsation (²1 =0) when F = 1, ²2 =1, Pe =S=103 .

equal at low frequency, but in the case of high frequency [Fig. 3(d)], the period is
so short that Da initially varies with almost single-frequency oscillation. More or
less similar behaviour can be seen from Fig. 4 which corresponds to the oscillation
of the annular tube.
For oscillatory current, the variations of Da with respect to time are depicted
for different values of β in Fig. 5 for λ = 0.1 and for different values of λ in Fig. 6
for β = 0 when (i) the pressure gradient oscillates with frequency α1 = 0.5 but
the annular tube is stationary (i.e., ²2 = 0), (ii) the annular tube oscillates with
frequency α2 = 0.5 but there is no oscillation in the pressure gradient (i.e., ²1 = 0)
and (iii) the pressure gradient and the annular tube both oscillate with frequency
0.5 i.e., α1 = α2 = 0.5. It is seen from Fig. 5 that in all cases increase in absorption
at the boundary helps to decrease the dispersion coefficient. The scale of reduction
is negligible when tube oscillation is the only driving force [Fig. 5(c)]. But under
the sole influence of pressure gradient oscillation and under the combined action
Vol. 60 (2009) Axial dispersion in pressure perturbed flow through an annular pipe 911

Figure 5. Temporal variation of dispersion coefficient Da for various values of β under different
types of unsteady flow situations where unsteadiness is caused by the (a) combined action of
both the driving forces (²1 = ²2 = 1) (b) sole oscillation of the pressure gradient
(²1 = 1, ²2 = 0) and (c) sole oscillation of the annular tube (²1 = 0, ²2 = 1).

of both of the driving forces, the dispersion coefficient shows appreciable lowering
with the increase of absorption in the boundary [Fig. 5(a, b)]. Thus presence of
pressure pulsation helps Da to reduce with absorption on a larger scale.
Increase of aspect ratio also leads to a decrease of the dispersion coefficient
[Fig. 6]. This can be explained by the fact that the increase of λ leads to a
decrease of the flow within the annular region which causes a lower dispersion
rate. In the sole presence of pressure pulsation or in the presence of both of the
driving forces, there is considerable reduction in Da with the increase of aspect
ratio. If oscillation of the tube is the only driving force [Fig. 6(c)], then also the
912 S. Paul ZAMP

Figure 6. Same as Fig. 5, but for various values of λ.

dispersion coefficient reduces with the increase of the aspect ratio, but the scale
of reduction is so small that it seems that the dispersion coefficient is insensible
with the variation of the aspect ratio, in the absence of pressure pulsation.
In order to study the simultaneous effect of pressure pulsation and tube oscil-
lation on dispersion, non-zero values of ²1 and ²2 are taken. For the oscillatory
flow the variations of Da w.r.t time are depicted for different values of α1 and
α2 for small time in Fig. 7 and for large time in Fig. 8. The figures along the
horizontal direction (row-wise) explain how the dispersion coefficient changes with
the gradual increase in α2 when α1 is fixed at different level and the figures ar-
ranged in the vertical direction (column-wise) describe the change in dispersion
coefficient Da with α1 when α2 is fixed at different level. Comparison of the rows
Vol. 60 (2009) Axial dispersion in pressure perturbed flow through an annular pipe 913

Figure 7. Dispersion coefficient Da with time for different values of α1 and α2 during initial
stage when ²1 = ²2 =1, F = 1, Pe =S=103 : (a, e, i) for α1 =α2 ; (d, g, h) for α1 > α2 ; (b, c, f)
for α1 < α2 .

or columns reveals the change in the dispersion coefficient with the changes in α1
and α2 . Diagonal plots (a, e, i) of Figs. 7 and 8 correspond to α1 = α2 . i.e.,
the pressure gradient and the annular tube oscillate with the same frequency. It is
seen from Figs. 7(a, e, i) that in periodic flow the dispersion coefficient Da changes
cyclically with a double-frequency period during initial stage and it reaches a sta-
tionary state after a certain time [Fig. 8(a, e, i)]. Figures show that with the
increase of α1 and α2 , the fluctuation in Da increases and reaches a stationary
state later than the smaller frequency. It should be noted that for all time the
increase of either frequency leads to a reduction of dispersion coefficient Da . The
plots (d, g, h) and (b, c, f) in Figs. 7 and 8 describe the cases when α1 > α2
914 S. Paul ZAMP

Figure 8. Dispersion coefficient Da at large time for different values of α1 and α2 when
²1 = ²2 =1, F = 1, Pe =S=103 : (a, e, i) for α1 =α2 ; (d, g, h) for α1 > α2 ; (b, c, f) for α1 < α2 .

and α1 < α2 respectively. When α1 < α2 , irregularity in oscillation in Da with

different amplitude is observed. It is to be noted that when the annular tube and
the pressure gradient oscillates with the same frequency i.e., when α1 = α2 , then
the amplitudes of oscillations in Da become approximately equal at large time
[Fig. 8(a, e, i)], but in all other cases (α1 > α2 , α1 < α2 ) there is no significant
change in the behaviour of Da as time goes on.
Fig. 9 shows the dispersion coefficient due to (i) oscillation in the pressure
gradient (solid lines), (ii) oscillation in the annular tube (dashed lines) and (iii)
the combined effect of oscillations in both (dash-dotted lines) with different values
of α1 and α2 . It is observed that oscillation in the annular tube produces much
more dispersion than that of the pressure gradient and their combined effect leads
Vol. 60 (2009) Axial dispersion in pressure perturbed flow through an annular pipe 915

Figure 9. Comparison of dispersion coefficient Da in different flow situations when F = 1,

P e = S = 103 : solid lines for oscillation of pressure gradient only (²2 = 0), dashed lines for
oscillation of the upper plate only (²1 = 0) and dash-dotted lines represent oscillation of both
with equal frequency: (a) for α1 = α2 = 0.5, (b) for α1 = α2 = 1.0, (c) for α1 = α2 = 4.0 and
(d) for α1 = α2 = 10.0.

to a further increase in dispersion. From the figures it is clear that during their
combined action the oscillation of the annular tube plays a more important role
on Da than the pulsation of the pressure gradient.
Fig. 10 plots dispersion coefficient against time with the variation of amplitudes
(²1 and ²2 ) of the oscillations and it is observed from Fig. 10(a, b) that at a fixed
instant, the amplitude of Da increases with increase in both ²1 and ²2 , but the
scale of increment for ²1 is much less than that for ²2 . It should be noted that the
variation of the amplitude of tube oscillation has a stronger effect on dispersion
compared to that for pressure pulsation. It is interesting to note from Fig. 10(c)
916 S. Paul ZAMP

Figure 10. Variation of dispersion coefficient Da with time for F =1, α1 = α2 = 0.5,
P e = S = 103 : (a) for different values of ²1 when ²2 =1; (b) for different values of ²2 when
²1 =1, (c) when ²1 =²2 .

that if the pressure gradient and the annular tube oscillate with the same amplitude
(i.e., ²1 =²2 ), the increase of ²1 (=²2 ) has the same effect on Da as the increase of
²2 keeping ²1 fixed (Fig. 10(b)) proving again that oscillation of the annular tube
has more influence on Da than the pulsation of the pressure gradient.
The axial distribution of the mean concentration are approximated using Her-
mite polynomial representation from the first four central moments for a range
of different aspect ratios, absorption parameters and frequencies of oscillations.
The variations of mean concentration distribution Cm (ζ, t) have been presented in
Fig. 11 against the axial distance (ζ − ζg ). It is seen from the Fig. 11(a) that as
the dispersion time t increases, the peak of the distribution decreases and tends
to become flat (solid line). It is also clear from the figure (dotted line) that for
Vol. 60 (2009) Axial dispersion in pressure perturbed flow through an annular pipe 917

Figure 11. Axial distribution of the mean concentration Cm (ζ, t) for periodic flow when ²=1,
Pe = S = 1000: (a) for different dispersion time t (solid lines) and for different β (dotted lines);
(b) for different λ (dotted lines) and F (solid lines) and (c) for different α1 (dash-dotted lines),
for different α2 (solid lines) and for different but equal values of both α1 and α2 (dashed lines).

t = 0.2, λ = 0.1, the increase of reaction parameter β shows the depletion of the
amount of the reactive material, and therefore the peak of the mean concentration
distribution gradually decreases. It can be seen from Fig. 11(b) that the peak of
the concentration distribution decreases with the decrease in λ. Also an increase
in pressure gradient leads to a decrease of the peak of the mean concentration dis-
tribution. Fig. 11(c) shows that for t = 0.2, λ = 0.1, β = 1.0, F = 4, the peak of
the axial distribution of mean concentration increases with increase in frequency
parameters αi ’s. The effect of frequency parameter on mean concentration distri-
bution is insensible when the oscillation of the tube is the only forcing, though
918 S. Paul ZAMP

the effect is detectable under the combined action of both forcing and much more
pronounced under the sole influence of pressure pulsation. It should be mentioned
here that for relatively low values of the dimensionless mean pressure gradient,
increase of frequency parameter does not show any appreciable change in the
mean concentration distribution in all cases. Therefore as F decreases, the effect
of frequency parameters tends to become insignificant in the mean concentration
distribution. Another important finding is that sole oscillation of pressure gradient
produces more peaky distribution than that produced by the tube-oscillation and
the peak further decreases when both of the driving forces combines.

9. Conclusions

A qualitative analysis has been conducted for scalar dispersion in an oscillatory

flow through an annular tube under the combined action of oscillation of the tube
around the longitudinal axis and pulsation of the pressure gradient. Attention
is focused on the behaviour of the dispersion coefficient under the variation of
frequency parameters, absorption parameter, aspect ratio and applied pressure
gradient. Investigations have been made to study the nature of the dispersion
coefficient and the distribution of mean concentration under steady and periodic
current. Most important findings from the present analysis are,
[1] There is a remarkable change in the dispersion coefficient which sustains even
at large time when the annular tube oscillates around its axis with greater
frequency than the pressure pulsation.
[2] Oscillation of annular tube produces much more dispersion than the pulsation
of the pressure gradient and their combined effect leads to a further increase
of dispersion.
[3] The effect of various parameters on Da are as follows:
(i) increase of F leads to an increase in Da whereas Da decreases with increase
of β and λ (ii) increase of α2 leads to a decrease in Da , (iii) increase of α1 also
leads to a decrease in Da but the rate of decrement exceeds the case (ii), (iv)
increase of ²1 leads to an increase in Da and (v) increase of ²2 also leads to
increase of Da but the rate of increment is greater than the case (iv).
[4] Both amplitude and frequency of pressure pulsation and that of tube oscilla-
tion exert enormous influence on the longitudinal dispersion. When pressure
gradient and annular tube both oscillate, amplitude and frequency of tube os-
cillation have more influence on dispersion than that of the pressure pulsation.
In other words boundary oscillation has stronger effect on the dispersion rate
than the pulsation of the pressure gradient.
[5] Effect of aspect ratio and absorption parameter on dispersion is likely to be
insignificant in the absence of pressure pulsation. It becomes significant when
both of the driving forces combine and become more pronounced under the
sole influence of the pressure pulsation.
Vol. 60 (2009) Axial dispersion in pressure perturbed flow through an annular pipe 919

[6] Under the sole presence of tube oscillation mean concentration distribution is
unaffected with the variation of the frequency parameter. However this effect
is much detectable under the combined action of both forcing and much more
visible under the isolated influence of pressure pulsation.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Professor B. S. Mazumder (Indian Statistical Institute,

Kolkata) for his valuable suggestions and encouragement. I am also grateful to
CSIR, India for financial support for pursuing this work. Suggestions of the anony-
mous referee are gratefully acknowledged.

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Suvadip Paul
Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit
Indian Statistical Institute
Kolkata 700 108
India
e-mail: paul suvadip@rediffmail.com

(Received: May 28, 2008; revised: October 25, 2008)

Published Online First: May 4, 2009

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